Call Ahead
by LZClotho
Summary: Author's Note: This is entirely based on the spoiler for 2x12 where we see Regina turn to her mother. I transcribed the Cora/Regina dialogue with my own Regina-internals. And I got the Emma/Regina dialogue from 2x11. Summary: There is something in this world faster than magic...


_**Author's Note:** This is entirely based on the spoiler for 2x12 where we see Regina turn to her mother. I transcribed the Cora/Regina dialogue with my own Regina-internals. And I got the Emma/Regina dialogue from 2x11  
_

_**Summary:** There is something in this world faster than magic..._

.

**Call Ahead**

_"Ride of the Valkyries"_erupted, echoing in the small parlor.

Regina jumped, a little of the scotch in her short tumbler splashing over the top and wetting her hand. Shaking it dry she wondered, What on earth? A buzz vibrated against the inner curve of her hip. Oh, her cell phone! She fumbled the device out of her pocket. Maybe that fourth tumbler was one too many.

The caller ID read "Swan."

Bleeding annoyance into her voice, she answered, "Yes, Miss Swan?"

"Are you alone?"

"Of course, I'm alone. You and your _charming _parents saw to that."

"Listen to me." There was an urgency to Emma Swan's voice that dropped something heavy to the bottom of Regina's stomach and left her nauseous with ripples filtering into her vision.

"Henry?" she asked, cupping the phone to her cheek as though she could cradle her son from pain at this great distance.

Emma's reply was strong. "He's fine." There was the briefest pause. "So's Archie."

Regina's breath caught, not quite a gasp, but close. "What? I thought - "

"Cora." The single word dropped the temperature several degrees in Regina's body. Heat fled her face, and icy shards formed in her chest. The phone dropped from suddenly nerveless fingers, clattering noisily to the floor.

Her mind whirred. She had known, ever since the moment she committed herself to Henry's faith and absorbed the deadly magic from the Wishing Well, that Cora would likely find her way through to this world. However she'd had almost a week to come to terms with her actions and the potential consequences, namely Emma's renewed role in Henry's life. Even to the point of briefly wondering if she'd finally had some luck in her life. That all came back to bite her when Archie Hopper was found dead in his office, and even Emma's belief in her was broken. _Broken_. Then Emma's words struck her anew. Archie was not dead?

She recalled the vitriol in Emma's voice, in her entire bearing, when the blonde confronted her in front of the house just twenty-four hours ago.

_"Henry. He believed in you. His heart's going to break. That's both our prices."_

_Regina challenged Emma. "No. I will not let you poison Henry against me."_

_Emma countered, "It's an interesting word choice, since you already did."_

_Emma, Snow, and Charming began striding away. Regina followed the trio - well, more particularly Emma - determined to press her case. "I want to see him. He deserves to hear my side of the story! He's my son!"_

_Emma spun, her face contorted in rage that took Regina by surprise, even as often as they had fought. "He's not! He's mine! And, after this, you're not getting anywhere near him! Do it!"_

Regina exhaled as she recalled how it had all been a trap to draw her off her steps. But she'd sensed something to her left before the Blue Fairy could complete the casting motion with her arms. She caught and threw the magic harmlessly aside. But Emma hadn't stopped in the face of Regina's casual touch on the magic and Regina had demanded a magic battle. Emma declined.

_"I don't need it. I already won," she said. "There is no way Henry will swallow your lies about Archie now. You can pretend all you want, but we know how you are, and who you will always be." The blonde's voice became more strained, more vociferous, the longer she spoke. _

In Emma's narrowed eyes and face contorted by rage, Regina had seen their vague alliance from the diner dissolving before it could even fully form. So she had evaporated herself from the confrontation to lick her wounds. She stared at her glass. And down a few drinks along the way.

Clasping her shaking fingers into a loose fist, Regina bent over to retrieve her phone.

There was a soft swish behind her, the sound of fabric moving against itself. She straightened, sliding her fingers over the phone's face as she dropped it into her jacket pocket. She hoped the pressure would disconnect the call if Emma hadn't already done so. She turned.

"You. I thought we stopped you. How did you get through?"

"Call it determination." Regina exhaled gingerly. The voice was still the same after nearly three decades, silky, seductive, with that edge of "Mother knows best, darling." All qualities that Regina had learned covered duplicity, scheming, vile intent. The Evil Queen had learned her methods from the best after all. "I had to see you. I had to tell you that I know why you sent me through the looking glass."

Regina never shifted her gaze from Cora's face. She would not be ashamed of her actions. She was working so hard to separate herself from the Evil Queen she had been. She wanted to be worthy of Henry. To succeed, she could not play into her mother's hands.

"And I know why you tried to have me killed."

She had just the smallest height advantage over the woman who had tormented her youth, professing love and only her best interests, only to turn around and force feed Regina the notion that love was weakness. Twenty-eight years in this world wasn't long enough to forget. But it had been enough to teach her not to cower like a child.

Her mother however continued to talk. "And it's... it's all right."

The gall. Regina felt the pit burning in her stomach and seized on it for the strength to reply. "I think it's not all right."

Regina was unable to read the effect of her words on her mother's face as the woman threw her shoulders back, as regal as she remembered. "I love you." The words hurt. Regina started to shake her head. "I just... I've always shown it in all the wrong ways."

Regina heard the faintest echo of her own words to Henry and felt her resolve faltering.

"And I should have never made you marry the king."

The air fled the room. Never had Regina expected those words. Not those words. Without her permission, her eyes burned with the threat of tears. She dropped her eyes to hide her weakness from this woman.

"I'm so sorry."

Regina felt herself tearing inside.

"When you cried over my coffin..." Cora's hesitance drew Regina's eyes to her face. "It all changed," the older woman finished.

"You framed me," Regina said, carefully, succinctly, firmly, though she felt her stomach twisting and the tears clogging her voice. "For the cricket."

"Temporarily. So you could see what these people really think of you."

"You made an airtight case, anyone would believe it." And briefly Regina thought of Emma and the phone call, feeling steel slide warmly into her spine. Support.

"I didn't want you to reject me." Regina was already shaking her head. But Cora wasn't finished. "Not again."

"You wanted me broken."

"Receptive."

Regina gave a broken laugh, cutting herself off viciously. "You are the most manipulative w-" She shook her head, cutting herself off again. "No, I won't even argue. Come with me. We're going into town."

She brushed a lock of hair back into place, firming up her defenses, as she walked around this woman - she wouldn't even think of her as her mother. She was a mother. Emma Swan was a mother. But Cora Mills … was not.

"It's the middle of the night." Regina heard the confusion and rejoiced in it.

"I don't care. We'll wake them up. Emma, Henry, and the two idiots, and you can tell them that you lied. You owe me that."

"And then you'll let us start over?"

"I don't see that happening, Mother." She remained resolute even as her mother's face twitched. "But I am, and was, trying so hard to be worthy of Henry." She drew a small breath, leaning forward slightly and demanding. "And I deserve the same thing from you."

"You're right," Cora said after a long moment.

Regina didn't dare hope what she'd said mattered to this woman, but the kernel of want still fluttered unbidden in her belly as she met her mother's gaze.

"For you, sweetheart," Cora said. "Anything."

Clinging to the thought that the Savior had called her - had called ahead to save her from this woman's trap, Regina squashed the want of her child-self underfoot. "Let's go." She grabbed her purse, retrieving her keys, and headed for the door.

.


End file.
